 I saw this patient in the field today. So what does that mean to have TB disease? HIV positive persons run a higher risk of developing TB disease. Most of the patients who receive preventive therapy will not get tuberculosis. Finding out your HIV positive in half TB can seem hopeless, but there is hope. There's a cure for TB and they've taken care of me, so I'm doing great. Alright, good shot, good shot. Give me a check, yo. What's going on? Did you go do what you said you might do? Did you go for the test? Nah, man, I ain't do that. I ain't do it, yo, because I wasn't ready for it, you know what I'm saying? What happened? I don't know, I just didn't think I was ready for it. I don't know why I should do it. You know, I don't have any good reason. Alright, well, I'm going to give you a reason. You know, if you're living with HIV, your chances of getting sick from TB is a lot greater. You should do what you can to live. You know what I'm saying? When I found out I had HIV, I made a promise to myself that I would do everything I could to stay alive. You need to do the same, man. I just know if I'm ready for it. You know you're a different person. You were ready. I don't know if I am. But if you don't get tested for TB and you have HIV, you could die. Look, all you gotta do is go get treatment and you'll live longer. It's simple. You get a skin test. It's called a PPD. You can get it at any of the health department clinics. You know? We at least think about it. Yeah, alright. I'll think about it. I'll think about it. Go for it! Go for it! All you gotta do is go get a simple skin test. That's it. And if he has it, he can get treated. If he can get treated, he'll live longer. It's as simple as that. It is hard enough to live with a diagnosis of HIV. Dealing with HIV and TB can be difficult. I know. I'm an HIV counselor who has worked with HIV positive patients for many years. However, of all the opportunistic infections associated with HIV, TB is the most preventable and curable. First, you find out if you have TB. You can live a healthier and longer life. Is it worth it to find out? My friend Bob, he's like a brother to me, you know? And he finally convinced me to go get this TB test. Now, I ain't gonna lie. I was scared, you know? I didn't know what the results were gonna be. When they came back positive, I don't know. I just thought it was all over for me, you know? It was hard enough dealing with HIV and then telling me I had TB. I don't know. I was just really scared. I mean, I don't even know how I got it. I mean, how did somebody get TB? TB is a disease caused by bacteria that spread through the air. The bacteria gets into the air when someone who has active TB disease coughs or speaks or sneezes. If you spend a lot of time around that person, you can breathe in the bacteria and get infected with TB. Most people get infected from close day-to-day contact with a family member, friend, or coworker who has the active disease. Well, do I? Do I have the disease? No, you don't have the disease. You're only infected. What does that mean, to have TB infection? Having TB infection means that the TB bacteria are in the body, but they're not active. After TB bacteria enter the body, body defenses control the bacteria by building a wall around them, the way a scab forms over a cut. The bacteria can stay alive inside these walls, but they're not active. While they're not active, the bacteria can't do damage to the body and they don't make you sick. Okay, that's TB infection. This does not mean you have the disease. So what does that mean to have TB disease? TB disease is a serious illness. You can develop TB disease when the bacteria that's inactive inside your body becomes active, begins to multiply, it breaks out of those walls. And that can damage your lungs or other body organs. You can become very sick with TB disease. You have to take a lot of medications, and you can be contagious to people who are around you. Put it up here. This is your x-ray. First, let me just take a look at that skin test that they put on you. Okay, yes, that is definitely a positive result. The x-ray is negative. It's clear. You're not contagious. You don't have the active disease, but... That's good, right? That's great. That's great. However, we do have to do some things for you as far as preventing active disease from occurring. Well, the nurse was saying that. She was saying that I have to take some treatment or something. Well, you actually have the bacteria, which is present in your system. It's not actively causing any disease right now. But if we don't do anything about it, because of the condition that you have, the HIV, which is weakening your immune system, then there's a good chance that you could go on to have active disease at some time later in your life. And we can prevent that from happening by giving you the medication isoniazid, or INH. That's the simple name for it. And you just have to take this one tablet once a day for about 12 months. I got this, you know, I'm HIV-infected, right? And I just need to know, man, is this going to take me out? I mean, is TB going to kill me? No, no, no, absolutely not. TB infection cannot kill you, okay? But what you can do now is take your preventive therapy. You can stay strong if you take care of yourself. HIV-positive persons, it's true. They run a higher risk of developing TB disease. But if you take care of yourself and you take this preventive therapy, you run a less chance of developing TB disease. You can take care of yourself, Joey. What kind of risk, like, you know, like, being infected with HIV, right? What kind of a risk do I run with having TB? Okay, the risk for persons who are not HIV-infected for developing active TB disease is about 10% during their lifetime. For persons who are HIV-positive, it's about 10% per year, which is about 100 times greater. But if you take the preventive therapy, your chances of developing TB disease are much, much less. Okay, what happens if, I mean, you know, what happens if I decide not to do this? Well, if you decide not to do it, you stand a good chance of developing active disease. And one of the bad parts about that is that instead of having to take just one pill, you may wind up having to take five or six or eight different pills each day in order to treat the active disease. And that's a much more difficult and a much more dangerous situation for you and for the people around you. I found out about 10 years ago that I was HIV-positive. When I found out I was infected with TB, I was willing to do whatever I could to stay healthy. Peter has been on preventive therapy eight months now. He still has several more months to go. His chances of developing TB disease are much less now than before he took the medication. Hey, Maurice! Hey, Harry, how you doing? Yeah. Good. Good. Good. I've lost a lot of people, good friends. And the worst part of it is that they were living in denial. And they didn't get the help that was available. And they're gone. I'm doing everything I can to stay healthy and strong as possible. Well, Wednesday would be a good time. You get a D in housekeeping. I found out that I was infected with TB. I was devastated, but I got started on the medicine. I haven't developed the disease, and I'm pretty sure I never will. They're all dedicated people out there who want to help you, but you have to let them know. Let them help you. I already had HIV when I found out I got TB. I figured that was it. I just wanted to die. I have a family about HIV. How could I tell them this? Come on, boy. Hi, Victor. How are you? Is it possible you can leave Norman in here and come outside and talk to me for a few minutes? Hi, Victor. I'm glad to see you here. I'm glad you came over. I need you to come to the clinic to see me. Just for a few minutes. Maybe five minutes, not very long. I remember when I first met Victor, he was very frustrated and very angry. At first, he thought having both HIV and TB disease meant a death sentence. It took a lot of convincing on my part to make him understand that TB disease could be cured. Victor, like many people, are on a program of directly observed therapy or DOT. It means trained healthcare workers, like myself, observe him taking his medication. And if he has any problems with medication, we will monitor it. They remember when I have to take my meds, what I have to take. Pretty much my conscience. We told him he can come to the clinic. We can meet him at his home, at the park, at school, anywhere that he feels comfortable taking the medication. We were willing to accommodate him. Now I'm taking advantage of all the services. Medical, social services. Now I'm back on treatment. I was so sick that I finally had to go to the hospital. And that's when I found out that I had TB. And it was really hard on me, because I couldn't stay in the hospital. I had to come home and take care of my children and my mother. But between everything, trying to take care of my kids and my mother and taking the medicines too, I couldn't keep up with everything. I'm the one that the family depends on. Lily was discharged from the hospital. And for a few weeks, she kept her appointments at the clinic to receive her DOT or directly observed therapy. But after a few weeks, she began to skip her appointment. Then I came out and convinced her that we could do her DOT at home. Lily, we really need to talk. About what? About you not taking your meds. Well, I've been taking my meds. I don't understand why you have to come here every day. We're trying to get you well. In order for you to get well, in order for me to help you get well, you have to take your medicines with me once you do it. Jim really helped me work things out. And now I can be here for my children and take my medicines too. And I mean be alive for my children. And it's not easy, but they say I may have to take my medicines for over a year. But that's all right. I'm doing this for my children. That's good to use in tissues. That's real good. I learned something else. I'll tell you, Lily's come a long way now as she started taking her medicine again. I've convinced her that if she continued on the path she was going, she was putting her mother and her children at risk. She hasn't been letting me in the apartment for a few days, but today she has. Her family's happy and a little boy gave me a hug for helping his mommy to feel better. Now that I know they can cure TB, I'll be around when they finally cure for HIV. Take your medicine. You'll live longer. Before I knew the facts, I was too proud to ask for help. Yo, if you're HIV positive, get the TB skin test. Serious. Directly observed therapy or DOT helps people with HIV live longer. It works.